Fat burning heart rate formula

[marcus300]

Ive been having a discussion with someone regarding different fat burning heart rate formula's, which one would you use and why?

[baseline_9]

In a 'Fasted state' my goal would be to focus my energy into burning specifically stored Bodyfat as a fuel source....

Oxidation of specifically fat occurs at a Low intensity...

SO my reccomendation for 'Fasted' cardio is low intensity


However total calories butrned is more important IMO (well in just about everyone who is respected minds also)

So IMO the best way to burn fat is to burn more calories.... (Low intensity cardio does not burn many calores... we can force those calories that are burned to be from stored fat but thats about it)

So to burn more caloreis we need to increase the intensity... Moderate to high intensity is going to shif the emphasis for the fuel source fat, onto glycogen/carbs....

However think of energy as energy.... We have 2 sources we can burn from (2 that im going to talk about anyway).... Fat and Glycogen/carbs.... Please think of this as your pool of energy and as a whole and not as 2 seperate's.... Remember the energy in vs energy out sum...... If you burn carbs now, you will burn more fat laiter. The opposite is also true...

Your daily goal is to deplet this 'pool' of energy.... so you can use a little of that pool by doing Low intrensity cardio or use a lot of the 'pool' by doing higher intensity cardio....

Remember to do higher intensity cardio you will be burning carbs basically and you need to have carbs in your diet to fuel this training...



For me Low intensity is;

(220 - age) x 0.70

Higer intensity training is IMO as high as you can go for an extended period (30-45 mins)

Some would do the 220-age x 0.8 to 0.85 but I just go as hard as i can for as long as i can and drop the intensity if i need to..



I think the talk test is good for low intensity cardio.... can you just string a while sentence??? if so then its LIC


Sory for the long post, I just seem to get carried away LOL

[gbrice75]

I've found that my own 'reaction' to cardio is a good indicator as to where i'm at. I pay extra special attention to my breathing and what i'm doing at a given moment. When I compare with a heart rate monitor, I find i'm pretty accurate with where I think I am. My rule is to break a sweat within 5 minutes or i'm not working hard enough, then maintain that sweat throughout the entire session. The generally accepted fat burning zone is comfortable for me, right on the brink of low-med intensity. 135-140 is good for me. When I get up into the 155-160 range, I consider it higher intensity.

That said, I recommend lower intensity/steady state cardio if done fasted; without a readily available energy source (carbs), the risk of burning LBM is greater when doing higher intensity cardio like HIIT in a fasted state.

I prefer and will be incorporating into my new schedule am fasted cardio, steady state and a low-med intensity, and then PWO HIIT cardio which of course will not be fasted, although much of my energy will have been spent on the workout itself.

For those interested, I found this:

The Karvonen Formula

Definition: The Karvonen Formula is a mathematical formula that helps you determine your target heart rate zone. The formula involves using your maximum heart rate (MHR) minus your age to come up with a target heart rate range (which is a percentage of your MHR). Staying within this range will help you work most effectively during your cardio workouts.

Below is an example of the Karvonen formula for a 23 year old person with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute (*to get your resting heart rate, take your pulse for one full minute when you first wake up in the morning or after you've resting for a while). This formula also includes an updated calculation of maximum heart rate (the previous formula was 220 - age, which has now been shown to be inaccurate):

206.9 - (0.67 x 23 (age)) = 191
191 - 65 (resting heart rate) = 126
126 * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end) = 82 OR 107
82 + 65 (resting heart rate) = 147
107 + 65 (rhr) = 172
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 147 to 172